Product Reviews

Siemens has produced two new WAP phones aimed at very different markets. The S35i is for executives who want a phone that's elegant and functional. The C35i, on the other hand, is for the younger market who'll be impressed that the ring tones have been inspired by 'top' European DJs.

The obvious difference between the phones is the design. The S35i looks sophisticated but is suitably understated, while the C35i is neat without threatening to raise the pulse in any way.

The face of the S35i is dominated by its screen. This seven-line display is capable of handling graphics and animations courtesy of its 8,080 pixel resolution. Menus are visually clear and easy to scroll through, allowing WAP content to be displayed intuitively, and substantially reducing the scroll requirements. To round off, reception is clear and the phone has been designed to fit the contour of the hand so that it's comfortable to use as well.

The S35i's menu system has been developed from previous generations of Siemens mobiles with dedicated buttons for accessing the menu or phone book. A user-defined button can be used, for example, as a one-touch connection to the Internet or for preparing SMS messages.

The logical menu layout extends to the phone book, making the location of names and numbers a fast and painless task. Numbers can also be stored on the digit keys for speed-dialling and can also be programmed for voice-dialling.

Some obvious attention to detail that isn't usually found even on the more expensive mobiles has been applied to the S35i. A commonly used function such as the last ten calls (received, made, missed) is easily accessible, when on some mobile phones the feature is buried away. The calls are also date and time stamped so you know when the call was missed. In addition to the 100-entry phone book, a VIP phone book can have different ringing tones allocated to the special numbers featured, alerting you to the important nature of that caller.

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S35i's User settings can be customised and saved as individual profiles, useful if different people are using the phone or, for example, if you want an instant way to set the ringer to discreet and only allow phone book calls through. These can be accessed and changed with a touch of the side keys.

Text-messaging fans won't only be happy with the S35i's large screen, but overjoyed that Siemens has included the excellent T9 predictive input software. Pictures can also be added to a message - there are 25 variants to choose from, with everything from a birthday cake to a pair of lips.

The phone also has an on-board organiser that can display a week or month calendar, appointment reminders as well as a fully functional alarm clock. While it will not in any way replace a handheld organiser, its inclusion is certainly more convenient than carrying two separate devices.

Power is provided by a lithium ion 600 mAh battery, which the manufacturer claims will give a varying performance: standby time between 60 and 220 hours, and talk time somewhere in the 100-360 minutes range. Our average usage tests would tend to put the battery life at the higher end of the scale.

Just a couple of minor complaints include the annoying tendency for Games to appear as the default option whenever the Menu key is pressed. Also, despite having 40 ring tones, they're all, apart from the discreet tones, pretty appalling unless you're the type of person who likes the 1812 Overture sounding as you sit in a crowded carriage. Quibbles aside, Siemens has produced a top-notch mobile that fits the bill as a speech, text and Internet communicator.

The C35i comes across as a younger sibling, not quite as graceful or refined. Still, considering the price, it's loaded with features. It shares the same interface and menu structure as the S35i, though the screen is smaller, with a maximum five lines of text. This only allows one menu option to a screen and Internet browsing suffers correspondingly, but it's still capable of handling graphics and animations.

The battery is a NiMH rather than a lithium ion which has a slightly poorer performance, with a maximum standby time of up to 180 hours and talk time of a maximum 300 minutes. The phone is also slightly heavier at 110g, but it still fits the hand well and is comfortable to the ear.

For the business user the S35i comes out on top with the feature list extending to infrared, voice memo and the extended battery life. That said, the C35i still offers quality build packed with a lot of features for the price.